Recently the details of BF3 premium leaked. Though you never know on leaked sources the information seems very plausible. Since I play a good bit of BF3 and my content will probably start to include it soon I wanted to share some of my concerns with the new ‘Premium’ package that will drop next week.
Double charged for Karkand
$50 for 5 maps is $10 a map + some goodies… but if you already have Karkand, and fact is if you care about expansion maps you probably already have Karkand, then the price is more like $12.50 a pack. So people are going to get double charged for that map pack and thats pretty scammy to me. Its still cheaper than separate, but that $15 isn’t coming back.
Priority Queue
I for one absolutely think taking this out would make premium better, its a scrap barrel item that just screws people other.
Say, you, for some reason, just get close quarters instead of the premium pack. Right after release not only are you going to be at a disadvantage on these maps because premiums players have had early access, but you are going to have a hard time actually getting in one of the servers. Not every server is going to magically start running CQ and lines will be long. I expect CQ to be pretty popular due to how popular Metro & Seine are (despite the whining of , there will be waiting in queues and I wouldn’t say its going to far to say that if you don’t get premium you will have a hard time playing the maps you paid for initially. There are also ramifications for playing with friends, its just not a fair system.
DICE isn’t good at balancing
This isn’t so specific to premium but a general DLC concern I have. They have stated before they view balancing as a pendulum, but the lengthy wait on patches doesn’t mesh with that approach and we end up with constant imbalances to deal with. Some of the guns in the close quarters DLC for example are well known to cause issues/be imbalanced in other games, for example the SPAS12, AUG and MP5 in other games have been forces to be reckoned with and, while Dice does tend to strangle the life out of the guns, I am almost certain a few of these guns are going to come out overpowered and pressure people to get them or quit.
Shaky community
The contempt for DICE/EA in the community is palpable. DICE/EA seem pretty oblivious or indifferent to the unrest and the CMs (PRs) are largely dismissive or quiet. The horrible patches with the long release cycle that let glitches ruin the game for months, the lack of insight in to what kind of balance the game needs and doesn’t need and a whole host of other things make it clear that BF3 is riding on the shoulders and goodwill of the previous games. Its far from dead, but the fact that it might be by the time the later map packs start coming out is frequently voiced and cynically attributed as a cause for this bundle approach in the first place.
How long will it actually take?
It took over a year to get close quarters out. I believe they are hoping to extend the games life another year or more but I just don’t see DICE actually producing a whole lot of stuff. My trust in their ability to deliver the full set in a reasonable amount of time is not that great.
But people will buy it and hate it anyway
The early access is a big deal for people wanting to cover the new packs on youtube (myself included) will need the early access for the people waiting to see if its any good. These people will continue to make videos with these new maps after it comes out and generally do advertising for them and people will buy them because the youtubers make the game/maps/weapons/skins look fun. I’ve already heard almost all high-profile BF3 youtubers paint premium in a positive light.
In closing
A lot of franchises are getting in to this yearly iteration cycle so its not hard to see this as this years BF iteration if EA truely does leave the game alone and doesn’t fragment the community with some offshoot game, but at least CoD gives you more maps/guns and throws in a single player campaign each year. I think in general your attitude towards the game/DICE/EA will determine your attitude to the DLC unless you have ulterior (youtube) motives. Maybe it is time to find something else to play.